Following on from last week’s news that Melbourne’s open-air cinema The Shadow Electric would be adding a live “music salon” to their 2013 program, with a pop-venue and a full complement of live shows throughout the summer season. Another site in the CBD is springing up for one week in November. More specifically, for Melbourne Music Week
The arts, culture and music festival officially kicks off on November 16th, and as first reported (way back in August) when the first round of musical acts announced, Melbourne Music Week also promised the debut of Where?House, a “mysterious pop-up flagship venue… on a scale never before seen or attempted in [Melbourne].”
Now the secret is out, with The Age revealing the CBD location of the new pop-up live music spot, nestled among the intersection of La Trobe and Elizabeth street, on two floors of a former “bomb site”, as Lord Mayor Robert Doyle called it back in July.
Two floors of the derelict, 86-year old Argus Building will play host to a series of up-and-coming bands, artists, DJs, film screenings, food and vintage clothing stalls – acting as the central hub for Melbourne Music Week until November 24th. The long defunct building has been leased by The City of Melbourne from its owner Ghale Investments, who originally bought the site from La Trobe University two years ago for a reported $15 million.“The building has really dictated what we can and can’t do at every turn,”
Turning two of the six storeys from a disused, vacant building into the flourishing heart of a music festival was no small task, “Our main theme is reclamation” said Starr Guzman, who along with Marksthespot associate Kevin Karlberg was charged with the conversion of the site. “‘We become a living organism in something that has decayed and we bring out the beauty in it.”
Though once considered unusable and unsafe, Guzman and Karlberg have helped transform the Argus Building into something that passes not only the discerning tastes of the music community, but official inspections as well, with the necessary safety permits and assurances of structural integrity all ironed out.
“The building has really dictated what we can and can’t do at every turn,” said Ms Guzman, with a 400 person capacity for an upstairs section and 800 capacity downstairs in the “concert hall”, where a diverse program of local and international bands will perform.
Other features include an spiral-shaped room called The Learning Curve, where musicians will deliver free workshops and conferences, a computer lounge, a temporary garden of food stalls, and a lounge located under a section of the missing roof. Best of all Where?House will have free admission from 11am each day, until the events begin kicking off at 8pm daily.
The Where?House is the culmination of a decade-long dream for Mr Karlberg, who told The Age: “Projects like this are the kind of thing you read about online that are happening in Europe and America all the time.”
The pair is disappointed to reveal the project’s secret location ahead of its original unveiling on opening night – conceived as a tribute to the vibrant warehouse rave culture of the late 80s and early 90s – making the “invisible cathedral of music” visible was a necessity after pressure from local retailers, colleagues, and the demands of international acts over the performance space.
Where?House officially opens on November 16th for the opening night of Melbourne Music Week, with a headline performance from French duo Housse De Racket, with a supporting bill that includes San Franciscan up-and-comers Pillowtalk, Melbourne’s own New War, Bamboo Musik, and Harris Robotis.
Other gigs to be held at Where?House include a headline slot from Naysayer & Gilsun, world-beating DJ Ben Sims, and Chilean maverick (and Battles collaborator) Matias Aguayo. Mess + Noise are also presenting a number of free concerts called the Lunch Box series at the new converted venue, with gigs from rising star Courtney Barnett and post-punks Terrible Truths, while Noisey Mountain is another free show that promises an “Unforgettable Night Of Australian Indie Music” co-presented by Sugar Mountain ahead of their 2013 festival, with the likes of Straight Arrows and Bitch Prefect will perform alongside a series of DJs and bands.
For full details of Where?House and its performances, head to: where-house.com.au
For full dates, shows, and details of Melbourne Music Week (Nov 16 – 24th), head to: melbourne.vic.gov.au/mmw
